


Making Friends the Superhero Way

by LaughingStones



Category: Motorcity
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Asthma Attacks, Gen, I'm just borrowing him, Julie's powers are mine tho, essentially anyway, graphic description of breathing problems, pretty sure Mike's powers and everything are all her, set in Birchbow's au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:44:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9184087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingStones/pseuds/LaughingStones
Summary: Mike was a superhero, but he wasn't invulnerable. Fortunately someone showed up to have his back when the job got him down.Ninelives seemed cool! (Mike was 85% certain the cat-headed look wasn't real.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [supersynesthesiac](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12677316) by [BirchBow (chaoticTenebrism)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticTenebrism/pseuds/BirchBow). 



> Thanks to Roachpatrol for the beta! Thanks to Birchbow for letting me play with her AU!

Mike met Ninelives one night when she came out of nowhere and saved his butt. He'd found a party of jerks in a side alley who thought arson sounded like a good time, and even four against one it would've been fine except that they had some clever tricks. Mike is strong and fast, but he needs air to breathe just like anyone else, and when they sprayed something in his face that made his lungs close up, he went down fast. Might've stayed down for good, since the two jerks he'd left standing were pretty pissed at him, except then a sleek figure dropped silently from above and took them both out.  
  
It was obviously another hero from the businesslike way whoever it was went about tying up the attempted arsonists, but Mike was too busy hauling in tiny gasps of oxygen and trying not to pass out to take in details. His lungs burned like he'd breathed acid.  
  
A minute later the hero crouched down by Mike and said in a female voice, “Can you walk?”  
  
He stared, because even with the way his eyes were watering and the dim light at this end of the alley, he could see her face didn't look right at all, more animal than human. “Can't breathe,” he wheezed.  
  
“Well, stop talking!” she snapped, and then sighed. “Focus on slow, even breaths and don't panic. It'll wear off soon, he couldn't have managed that big a dose. I'll stay here until you're okay to go.”  
  
It was hard not to panic when he couldn't even draw a full breath, but she didn't seem worried that he might suffocate, and she seemed to know about this stuff, so he followed instructions and stopped thinking about it. She made for a nice distracting puzzle, at least. That couldn't be her real face, but it flowed into her neck seamlessly and moved when she spoke, so it couldn't be a mask either.  
  
Her suit was yellow and black, with a green vest over it, and her arms had skin pale enough to glow, not fur. Her hands were completely human, not cat paws.  
  
Forgetting himself, he reached out to see if the fur on her face felt real and she jerked away, feline mouth twisting in a snarl. “Stop that!”  
  
He pulled in a harsh breath and grimaced. “Sorry,” he croaked, using as little air as he could.  
  
She huffed in annoyance. “You should know better. I'm not trying to get your mask off, am I?”  
  
He shrugged one shoulder. “Curious.”  
  
“About my identity?” she said sharply, and he shook his head fast, which made him dizzy, little dancing spots dark in front of his eyes. “Oh, that,” she said, calmer. “It's a hologram. More or less. Try turning on your side.”  
  
He rolled onto his side and found it made breathing very slightly easier. It didn't feel like he was about to pass out anymore, anyway. “More ‘r less?” he asked.  
  
“You're pretty reluctant to just focus on breathing, aren't you? You should really consider not wasting your breath until you have some to spare.” She was quiet a moment, then said, “That's my power. I can disguise and hide things or make it look like something’s there that isn't. And when I need to I can make that thing real for a split second.”  
  
Mike's eyes widened behind his skull mask.  
  
“Watch,” the hero said, and stood. Glowing lines in the air converged and then there was a rough ledge hanging mid-air about a foot off the ground. The hero stepped on it and leapt up to another just-appeared step, to another, then down to a new one and to the ground again.  
  
“Whoa,” Mike said, eyes round.  
  
The hero shrugged, cat mouth stretching in a slightly odd smile, and then stopped abruptly, staring at the ledges she'd made, which were still peacefully hanging there beside her. “Uh.”  
  
As they watched, the bottom one winked out, and then one by one the others slowly vanished. It took a lot longer than a split second, and Mike was pretty sure he knew why, but he didn't have the breath to explain it yet.  
  
“Okay,” the hero said, and although Mike couldn't interpret the expression on her cat face, he thought she sounded unnerved. “That's… not how it usually works.”  
  
“Yeah,” Mike said hoarsely. “Sorry, ‘s me.”  
  
Her head snapped around to stare at him. “Uh-huh. Assuming your power isn't making other people's illusions more real than intended--”  
  
Mike shook his head.  
  
“--because that would be weirdly specific, I'll wait until you can explain.”  
  
Mike nodded gratefully. His lungs were less angry now, no longer burning and cramping with every attempted breath, but they still felt about a third the size they ought to be.  
  
The hero stood next to him and spent the next ten minutes making little floating lanterns that hung above her head, and random stone pillars in the middle of the alley, and bricks and broken pieces of concrete. Eyes narrowed, she touched all of it, feeling the textures and weights and solidity of her creations. Mike watched sheepishly and focused on sucking in air a little faster than felt normal, almost getting enough.  
  
Finally the constriction on his lungs eased enough that when he pushed himself to sit up, his head only swam for a few seconds. “I boost powers,” he explained as the last real-hologram pillar vanished, and the hero turned to look at Mike. “Usually only for my allies, but,” he paused to take a breath. “I guess I decided you were an ally without really thinking about it.” Another couple breaths. “I mean, I would've been sunk if you hadn't shown up. So, thanks, dude.”  
  
“Ninelives,” she said. “And no problem.”  
  
“Mike Chilton,” Mike said cheerfully, with his usual two-fingered salute/wave.  
  
She nods, smiling a little. “I know. The skull mask is pretty distinctive. So your boost is why the solidity lasts? Is it also why there's more detail? Because I can picture whatever I want, but if I'm trying to make it real it's gonna be kind of… fuzzy and indistinct, even for the brief moment it exists. This stuff hasn't been fuzzy.”  
  
“I guess?” Mike said. He glanced up at the last lingering creation, a lantern floating above him. “That one’s lasted a while.”  
  
“That one’s not real,” Ninelives said.  
  
Mike blinked at it. “But it's lighting everything up!”  
  
Ninelives rolled her eyes, which probably weren't actually yellow and slit-pupiled under the illusion, but what did Mike know, maybe they were. “Holograms are made of _light_ , Chilton,” she said. “That's literally the easiest thing for me to make.”  
  
“Oh. Cool!”  
  
She tilted her head. “Uh. Thanks.”  
  
“That must be really handy on the outskirts, where there's like no street lamps. And you could use it like a flash grenade, yeah? Blind your enemies.”  
  
Ninelives just stared at him for a moment. “It is actually pretty useful, yeah,” she said. “But most people don't notice that right away. Stronghorn still thinks it's a bunch of girly tricks and I should be lifting weights to try to keep up with him.”  
  
Mike took a breath and pushed up to his feet, swaying only a little. “Haven't met him yet, but when I do I can punch him for you,” he offered.  
  
“I'll do it myself if he needs punching,” she said, and her cat mouth stretched and curled smugly. “For a guy who thinks they're just silly lights, he does keep falling for the same tricks.”  
  
“Nice,” Mike said, laughing, and was only a little out of breath afterwards.  
  
Ninelives narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “You don't sound quite recovered yet, but we should really move before anyone shows up to deal with these guys. How long does your boosting trick last?”  
  
“Oh--uh, it's not about how long, it's about how close you are to me. If you're within an arm’s length or two, I'm boosting you at full power. If you're across the street, it's not as strong, and from a few blocks away I can't do that much.”  
  
“Okay. You like rooftops?”  
  
“Who doesn't?” Mike said with a grin.  
  
“Follow me,” she said, and climbed the stairs that appeared before her. Mike followed two steps behind, bright-eyed and grinning open-mouthed at how cool this was. Other heroes’ powers were so awesome to see working!  
  
When they got to the roof of the building next to them, Mike was breathing harder than he should be, which was embarrassing. He tried to catch his breath as quietly as possible.  
  
Ninelives looked out over the dark streets toward the nearest neon glow, a cluster of bars and clubs several blocks away. “I need to go. You can take as long as you need up here to recover, and then you should probably take the rest of the night off.”  
  
“Nah, I'll be fine,” Mike assured her. “Hey, you wanna work together sometime? You wouldn't have to rescue me all the time, I promise, I'm usually way better than this.”  
  
She turned to look at him. “I know,” she said, emphasizing it like maybe he wasn't very bright. “You're pretty well known, and not for being a pushover.” She watched him for a minute as another lantern appeared over her head, shining down on her cat ears, tabby-furred cheeks, bright yellow eyes. “Just work, right?”  
  
Mike blinked. “Yeah, of course.”  
  
“Good. The fluffy look isn't off-putting enough to some guys,” she sighed. “I have to admit I'm curious to see what I can do with your boost, where the limits are, but won't it be tiring to boost someone else the whole time?”  
  
“Oh! No, that's not how it works. I mean, I guess it'd make sense if it did? But it doesn't.” Mike shrugged. “When I boost someone else, I get stronger and faster, it's pretty cool. I boosted two people at once one time and it was a serious rush.”  
  
“Huh! Some kind of feedback loop, I guess. That is really cool,” Ninelives said. She walked across the roof and stepped up to the opposite edge, the lantern left behind. “I'll be out again not tomorrow night but the next one. See you then?”  
  
“Awesome! Yeah, totally!”  
  
“Great,” she said, and took off running across not-quite-thin air, platforms appearing just in time for each new step and lingering fewer and fewer seconds behind her as she got farther away. The lantern left near Mike winked out.  
  
He watched until she disappeared behind a taller building. Other heroes were awesome. Ninelives was awesome. Life was awesome.  
  
Now he just had to get his full lung capacity back, and he could go see what else fun stuff he could get into tonight.


End file.
